Artist, Writer & Proprietor of The Poison Apple

Why Serve in the Office of the Subordinate?

Listeners of my podcast will often pose questions. Those questions may result in a future topic on my show.

“Why serve in the office of the subordinate?”

It’s both a rational and logical question to ask a Satanist. especially if that Satanist claims to follow no man, god, or religion.

This directly addresses the need for a demiurge in most world religions/philosophies and the purpose it serves. ‘Serve‘ being the key word there to focus on.

In Greek culture, the demiourgos was a worker of the common people with a unique skill. A craftsman that is employed for a specific task. During the Hellenistic period (323 – 146/31 BC), this term is an important one to consider as it relates to the thoughts and ideas which were transplanted from the Ancient Greeks to other cultures.

The Greeks often personified attributes of thought, feeling, action and conditions of being. These personifications were handy teaching tools when directly addressing complex notions in teaching Greek philosophies. One of the most adored Greek philosophers Socrates is shared through his Metatron Plato. Plato presents a translation of the creation of the universe in Timaeus. He attributes the organizing of chaos to a demiurge, thus the balancing factor is a divine agent with the skill of intellect to manifest complex systems of chaos into organization within the confines of nature and what it will allow. Thus, the demiurge is a subordinate to nature.

During the period of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BC), it stretched along the Northeastern border of Greece. It is during this time that Zurvanism (an abstraction of Zoroastrianism) was in practice, but dissolved by the 10th century. Scholars debate the specific dating, but writing during the Achaenenid period does provide us with a timeline. Zurvanism birthed a demiurge, a twin as it were, to its divine creator Ahura Mazda. Angra Mainyu represented the personification of evil, while Ahura Mazda goodness. The primary name for this divinity was Zurvan, a gender-neutral force split into two parts. The dualism was essential to teaching principles of organization and chaos. If Zurvan was the force of all things in light, then it would be Angra Mainyu that would design manifestations of organized chaos. Both parts, serve as subordinate to the whole that is Zurvan. The Zurvanites considered Angra Mainyu as the twin that had fallen from Grace; a theme that continues even after the extinction of Zurvanism beyond the 10th century.

Gnosticism adopted themes from older religions and philosophies and was popularized as a set of beliefs held during the Hellenization of Christianity. Images such as that above, were common among what we now call ‘Gnostic works’. It’s a fair bit more modern than commonly believed, dating to about 2nd century AD. The image is an important one to contemplate. The serpent-lion over the sun, with a moon and star in compliment. It directly addresses the influences of Hellenized thought, and even traces of Zurvanism.

The serpent has been regarded as an anthropomorphic representation of Greek Sophia (wisdom). The Lion remnants of Mithric cults, and thought in relation to the cosmos. The ties that bind, the Demiurge in relation to the chaos of all things.

It is by no coincidence that the Serpent appears in the Book of Genesis, a collection of writings thought to be written by Hellenized Jews. All of the elements are there to include the astronomical used as both metaphor and allegory to convey Esoteric teachings for future generations. The Satan is but a servant of God in the Book of Job, a parable to teach the trials and tribulations of Faith. This Adversary, is much like Socrates asking the hard questions, that seek answers.

Why does Job fear God? Why does Job keep his faith in the face of all the trials God allows the Adversary to bestow upon Job?

What does Job know of Evil? Why does he know of it? Job is among the children of Adam who ate from the tree of Knowledge in the garden of Eden, the first sin of mankind.

Genesis 1:27

“And God prepareth the man in His image; in the image of God He prepared him, a male and a female He prepared them.

28 And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.'”

Gensis 2:16-17

16 And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, `Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat;

17 and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it — dying thou dost die.’

Revelations 5: 1-5

1 And I saw upon the right hand of Him who is sitting upon the throne a scroll, written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals;

2 and I saw a strong messenger crying with a great voice, `Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose the seals of it?’

3 and no one was able in the heaven, nor upon the earth, nor under the earth, to open the scroll, nor to behold it.

4 And I was weeping much, because no one was found worthy to open and to read the scroll, nor to behold it,

5 and one of the elders saith to me, `Weep not; lo, overcome did the Lion, who is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, to open the scroll, and to loose the seven seals of it;

This directly addresses the issue of deciding which culture was the most wise? Socrates is being earnest when answering the question: Who holds absolute knowledge? He can certainly be confident in his thinking, his beliefs, in the knowledge he holds while admitting that he is ignorant to many things.

Hinduism is considered the World’s oldest continuing religion. It too has a concept of the demiurge (although the concept linguistically is distinguishably Greek). Brama is the creator of organization from Chaos, it breathes life into all things. Every religion asks the question: What happens when the Creator god decides to destroy everything it has created? The known world would disappear, and only that which was not created would be unaffected by the destruction. Who or what then, holds the ultimate authority to hold the office of subordinates?

This ontological discussion and debate continues among all people of the world, in every region, in every time of man’s history. From the earliest writing found in Ancient Sumer to the modern writing of our current era, we are all subordinates to the natural order of things. Many people live in fear of the wrath of a creator god that will one day decide to wipe the slate clean.

This question could be equally reflected back to the querrant. Why not just kill yourself? Why be subordinate to nature? You could certainly end your slavery by releasing yourself from such an organized system, scattering your flesh to the winds. “Ashes to ashes… Dust to dust…” You are the ultimate authority over your life, no matter what moral or ethical code you feel yourself bound to. The ultimate decision to live or die, is yours.

In our modern world, Judeo-Christian-Islamic modeling dominates our societies, but The Greatest Story Ever Told, is just a remake of an older model. A remake of a remake degenerates over time, and the original story-line is often lost. It doesn’t matter what your favorite story is, or who the main characters are, the point of the story is to teach you something. Whether that something is valued is up to you. Why do we each serve in the office of the subordinate? It’s a good question, but the only real answer will come from you.

Like Socrates, I know that I know nothing…

I follow no man, but I can be inspired.

I adhere to no religion, but I can be religious.

I serve no god, but I see the need for such a concept.

Pslam 91:13

On lion and asp thou treadest, Thou trampest young lion and dragon.

I am bound by the nature of things like the rest of you, I do not allow ideas to enslave my mind. The Lion is the light of the sun, illumination, and companion to Sophia. It is the Serpent under foot. Ideas are tools of man, it is when we are used as the tools that we are enslaved in the office of the subordinate. Using a model as a concept is not the same thing as being used by it. Calling myself a Satanist doesn’t mean I am part of the story, it’s just a label to compartmentalize ideologies to gain more autonomy. Unless of course one lives to serve an authority.

Satanism can act as a demiurge, or can split man in half dividing him from his own divinity. We each seek the Kingdom of God in our own way, even if you don’t consider yourself religious. The carnal is pitted against our spiritual nature; what is created from that chaos is entirely up to the individual.

One only need to be observant to see what other people are creating, and that can serve as a contrast and comparison to what ‘we’ each create. Some of us choose to manifest as the Adversary. One can certainly argue that it’s nothing short of mimicry; a psyche model. Do we really re-invent the wheel? The method is merely a means to an end. It’s among the reasons that Satanists are not a cohesive unit but more of a loose cabal of individuals that butt heads from time to time. The reality is, most ‘congregating’ occurs online, on a rare occasion groups of people gather in a modern day Agora.

Some groups have knuckle heads at the helm that become ego-maniacal which is why they usually fall apart. Members leave disgruntled because they find themselves subjugates of some whack-job leader-type. I see it all the time. I often watch in awe of the people who follow these people around like zombie slaves. They allow themselves to be programmed by yet another set of doctrines and beliefs. Added to the mix is the mind-fuckery of meg-shift mind magicians with no real grasp on philosophy or psychology. Those people end up their own worst enemies. It’s kind of amusing to watch them crash and burn.

A recent film I can recommend is Red State. It can be any group really, Christians have been persecuted on and off for the better part of 2000 years. Some of these ‘Satanic’ groups are much worse than any fundamentalist nutter group I can fathom. They can equally be considered terrorists of the mind. What with all their misunderstanding of what they read, history and myth with a blend of religious baggage and inept mental faculties. Holy shit, it’s a circus of subordinates battling with their insubordinate all the while preaching about liberty and freedom!

I digress…

I’m always game for answering questions, especially those that do your brain a mental work out. I don’t think people think enough, they are more inclined to have truth spoon fed to them.

Welcome to Discovering the Male Mysteries with Mel Mystery. This blog is a supplement to my podcast is for and about gay and bi pagan men. My podcasts are about what it is to be gay, what it is to be pagan, what it is to be men -- sometimes as separate topics and sometimes all meshed together as one. I started this endeavor after seeing that there were few, if any, podcasts out there on this topic. The podcasts are informative, and present topics that challenge conventional thinking.